Scott Mendelson
, ContributorI cover the film industry.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

What seemed on the outset like a quiet weekend has turned into something of a whirlwind. We've got four new wide releases, two of which are basically recycled variations of an existing product, and one of which is an English-language dub of a Japanese animated film. Ironically enough, the one outright "new" movie this weekend topped the box office, as Non-Stop earned a terrific $30 million. The Universal (a division of
Comcast) release marks another notch in Liam Neeson's action-hero belt, as the $50 million airplane-set thriller once again proves that Liam Neeson is basically the last old-school action hero we have left, as the film's success rests almost entirely on his shoulders.

The film's 3x weekend multiplier means that it played like an old-school adult hit. The film played 51% female, 65% over-35. It played 46% Caucasian, 27% Hispanic, 13% African American, and 9% Asian, suggesting that Mr. Neeson can bring audiences of all demographics together to watch him kick righteous butt. The picture benefited from a fun and easy to explain premise (villain threatens to kill an airplane passenger every 20 minutes until he gets paid, Neeson protests, action ensues). Neeson is the rare action star who can (if he chooses) say "No, thank you." when the Expendables or the Fast/Furious crew come a-calling.

While she has what amounted to a glorified cameo, Lupita Nyong'o helped the film earn plenty of free publicity, as the much-talked about 12 Years A Slave Oscar nominee has dominated media circles of late, with token mentions of this, her "next" film, in pretty much every article or interview. I'm not saying she was a draw per-se, but general moviegoers who may have missed the trailer or TV spots were now likely to read about the film in an otherwise unrelated entertainment story and take notice. Every bit helps.

The legs on this one should be pretty decent, as even Unknown had a 3x weekend-to-final multiplier. There is a chance it becomes a consensus pick in the coming weeks for those not interested in hard-R violence (300: Rise of an Empire, Sabotage) or kid-centric fare (Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Muppets Most Wanted). It's an easy choice for a large group of moviegoers, as its "adult" enough for older kids and adults, yet tame enough for younger audiences.

And weirdly enough, films set on airplanes (Flight, Flight Plan, Red Eye, etc.) seem to have solid legs, so this one may end up crossing $100 million domestic. It's another solid win for Universal this year, scoring another moderately budgeted hit after Lone Survivor ($123 million) and Ride Along ($127 million). When not every film cost $100 million to produce, you don't need to gross $100 million on each side of the US/overseas divide to break even.

The next new release basically amounts to a television re-run transformed into a theatrical release. 20th Century
Fox distributed Son of God this weekend, which is basically a cut-down version of the very popular History Channel mini-series The Bible, with a few deleted scenes used to round out the narrative. The "story of Jesus" drama earned $26.5 million for the weekend. $4.5 million of that came from advanced ticket sales going into the weekend, and the 2.8x weekend multiplier suggests that a large chunk of said tickets were bought for Friday. Oddly enough, the one film that should have been less affected by Oscar Sunday was the more front-loaded of the new releases. It doesn't mean anything, but it's a curiosity.

The film was of course aggressively marketed to uber-religious moviegoers, the kind that might otherwise not go to the movies of a major new release on opening weekend. It may sound nuts that around $24 million worth of audiences are heading to the theater to see a television re-run, but A) plenty of people didn't see the mini-series and B) did you go to the theaters to see a 3D reissue of The Lion King, Titanic, Jurassic Park, etc. over the last few years? The picture obviously didn't get the loads of free publicity/controversy that courted Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ ten years ago this weekend, as whatever controversy is to be found in this arena is being reserved for Darren Aronofsky's Noah which Paramount drops on March 28th.

For arbitrary comparison, The Passion of the Christ earned $26 million on its first day, heading into an $83 million Fri-Sun weekend and a $125 million Wed-Sun debut. This film cost $22 million, so it'll break even by the end of next weekend, with possibly huge foreign dividends as well. The lesson here is the same as something like Instructions Not Included: There is real money to be made targeted audiences who aren't used to being targeted. Business for this one is hard to predict over the long term. It could flame out and prove a one-weekend wonder, or it could hold on just enough to get an Easter weekend bump. Although Easter falls April 20th this year, nine days later than it fell in 2004, so it may well be a miracle (sorry) if Son of God is still in enough theaters at that point to cause any kind of bump.

It took Aslan and Jesus to dethrone The LEGO Movie (which like many "the chosen one" stories has a touch of Jesus parable to it as well), but it will have to take comfort in crossing $200 million over the weekend. The Warner Bros. (a division of
Time Warner) blockbuster earned $21.01 million (-33%) and should end its fourth weekend with a new domestic cume of $209.35 million. That's also an insane 4.7x weekend multiplier, although we'll see if it can keep that up once DreamWorks Animation's Mr. Peabody and Sherman opens next Friday.

Walt Disney released an English-language dub of Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises into 450 theaters this weekend. They have been doing these semi-wide releases for the famed Japanese animation director for around 15 years, as I have fond memories of seeing Princess Monokeke and Spirited Away in my local first-run Ohio Regal Cinemas. Since the films make a mint in Japan and elsewhere anyway, these domestic releases are almost an act of public service/charity. If The Wind Rises, a PG-13 film centered around World War II, might not be as kid-friendly as something like Ponyo ($15 million domestic), there is still worth to releasing an animated film in America that isn't explicitly intended for kids. As such, with $112 million in overseas grosses already, its $1.6 million weekend gross counts as a moral triumph no matter how much or little it cost to dub and distribute.